Mortgage application fraud risk in the second quarter of 2016 is considered to be fairly stable, according to a new report released by CoreLogic.
Measuring the top metros with the highest mortgage fraud risk, the data company released its quarterly insights known as the CoreLogic Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index (FRI).
According to the report, Florida remains a risky state, with several metro areas reporting above national-level fraud risk. Miami took the no. 1 spot with a second quarter FRI of 278, although that represents a 3 percent drop over the previous quarter.
The top three Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) reported were in Florida, with Lakeland-Winter Haven and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater following Miami. Lakeland saw a decent quarterly improvement of 8 percent, while Tampa decreased the same percentage amount. Jacksonville, Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Cape Coral-Fort Myers and North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton all made the top 15.
The Deltona area saw the biggest decrease quarter-over-quater in Florida, at 13 percent.
However, the biggest increase was seen outside of Florida, in McAllen-Edingburg-Mission in Texas, which reported a 33 percent quarterly increase.
Urban Honolulu saw a FRI quarterly increase of 20 percent, from 132 to 159.
Overall, most cities reported a quarterly increase, with only five CBSAs witnessing a drop in its index.
And all the cities within the top 15 were in warm weather climates, except for New York-Newark-Jersey City-NY-NJ-PA, which saw a slight decrease of 1 percent in the second quarter of the year as its FRI dipped from 212 to 210.
California also saw two CBSAs in the top 15, with Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura ranking no. 9 and no. 15. The metro areas saw quarterly FRI increases of 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
